Additional Notes:
Mike O’Meally on shooting the photo, from chromeball interview #123:
“Weren’t you also shooting him at the White Hubba in Philadelphia for Menikmati when he murdered it that night?

Yeah, he ended up getting the cover of Skateboarder that night with a backlip down it. If I remember right, he started with the backlip and also came away with a back 5-0 and frontside 180 nosegrind. All over the course of maybe an hour. McCrank was there and frontside 5-0’d it, too. Heavy sesh, man. That thing is huge.

I remember Fat Bill taking us there to check it out and Koston just went to work. It was one of those instances where I actually started to get nervous as I set everything up. Because this was some real next-level shit. What if my flashes don’t work? Am I shooting this from the right angle? There’s just so many factors and you always want to do your best. Nobody wants to blow it.

But Koston was on a hot one, man. Hammering out tricks. I’m pretty sure the backlip was maybe 2nd try. Because the proof sheet only had two frames and the first one, my framing was really bad. So I adjusted real quick and next thing I know, he’s rolling away. The frontside 180 nosegrind took a little longer for him, though. He got beat up a few times on that one.

I remember thinking over the course of all that, I’d better adjust my angles between tricks so everything doesn’t look identical to each other. Because everything was so heavy, I wanted them all to get used. The fisheye would’ve been wrong for the 180 nosegrind anyway… so yeah, it worked out pretty well.”

Additional Notes:
Mike O’Meally on the trick, from Transworld – Your Favorite Transworld Skateboarding Cover of 2009:
“In a small town in the forests of Stuttgart, Germany, Colin McKay was shown this little gem of a volcano while on DC’s Live From Europe tour. The tiles were pretty rough, and he even took a mean scrub into the floor, but the tough S.O.B. got back up and spanked a lofty air over the hip, while most of the guys had trouble hitting the lip.”

It was a big gap and really smelly due to all the pyrotechics and smoke in the warehouse that had nowhere to go. It was dark, so the timing was crucial—getting the flames to pop in just the right time and place to highlight Vince as he blasted across that big gap and into the steep landing ramp.

The nicest thing about it being the cover, was that it was a surprise, as we didn’t find out until the winner was announced at TWS at the awards ceremony for S&C. I think Vince was pretty stoked but he’s so humble I think he just took it in stride. Kelly Bird might have been more stoked!

I think it’s one of my favorites, just ’cause it was so difficult photographically and the gap was really big in such a cramped, smoky, and hectic situation, but Vince made it look easy, which is what a good skater always does.”

Mike O’Meally on the trick, from Transworld’s “Our Favorite Covers Of 2013 And The Stories Behind Them” (2013):
“Eman had his eye on this spot for years, it’s really heavy. Rough, windy, and steep. It was towards the end of last years Skate & Create with Santa Cruz, the spot is located right in the zone in SC. So after a full morning session on a flat bank on the seawall, Eman got his guts together and started sizing it up—there was some silent apprehension from all present, as nobody knew if it was even possible. We were worried he might get hurt, but nobody said anything, he had that eye of the tiger and any good MC knows his limitations. So after a few roll ups to case out the drop, Emmanuel Guzman cracked one and ran out—it looked pretty painful, just the stress on the legs of running down such a steep bank. Then second try it was all in and he hung on for life or death and made the ride away smooth. I was really glad he handled it so quick, it was just one of those big, ugly brutal spots were you were hoping that nothing bad happened, in fact the opposite was true—he made it look easy. One of the gnarliest things I have ever shot.”

Additional Notes:skately – El Toro High School
Mike O’Meally on the trick, from Transworld, “Shine On, You Crazy Diamond” (2007):
“The first time I realized Shane was special was when he was talking to himself. Now, a lot of mentally gifted (and mentally challenged) people have been known to chatter away, but the difference with Shane was that his one-man monologue took place in the middle of a midnight Smith grind down the legendary El Toro handrail in Orange County. He was yammering to himself about who knows what, and then, within minutes, he was poised perfectly on a nosegrind and landed it in one try-no bails and no worries.”